PS I Love You Meet Me At The Muster Station (Paper Bag)
3/5
By: Liane Escorza
PS I Love You are from Kingston, Ontario and this, Meet Me at the Muster Station, is their debut album. Originally conceived as a solo project by Paul Saulnier, it didn’t fully develop from an improvised outlet to a full-bodied work for a good while. But here it is, emerging from its cocoon as this amalgamation of squeaky strangling vocals, solid rock beats and fuzzy, hammering guitars.
This catchy yet wide-eyed garage-rock has of course been done before, yet some of the joyously lose guitar solos such as that in ‘Breadens’ are an exception to the formulaic norm – they’re fresh and fearless; as if Saulnier’s arm, fingers and guitar were an extension of his ripping soul. On the other hand, ‘2012’ and ‘CBEZ’ veer towards poppy and rhythmic shores with catchy choruses and grand riffs – they’re a whiff of a breeze for a welcome cool-down.
So as not to make things too light, a slightly more soulful and vocally melodic stance is noticeable in ‘Little Spoon’, where keyboards take precedence ahead of the guitars. One after another, songs seem to come alive, almost familiar. It’s with ‘Facelove’ that it suddenly dawns on me what a close influence PS I Love You have taken from Wolf Parade – it’s only that they have a slightly less brutal and clinical way of presenting themselves. Yet their more idiosyncratic combinations of soft mumbles and bracing noise strongly place them on a road of glaring possibilities.
Artists in this article: PS I Love You
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